#associate professor akira takatsukis conjecture

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Weekly Preview! A graphic novel and lots of manga!

Weekly Preview! A graphic novel and lots of manga! See what's coming to GPTV! #comics #comicbooks #manga #graphicnovel

There are a lot of comics coming out every week to be covered. Check out some of what we’ll be reviewing and this is only the beginning! This week’s reviews include: Associate Professor Akira Takasukis Conjecture Vol. 2 (Yen Press) Banished From the Hero Party Vol. 6 (Yen Press) Beginning After the End Vol. 4 (Yen Press) Call the Name of Night Vol. 3 (Yen Press) Demon Sword Master of…

[hatsumishinogu]

Junkyoju Takatsuki Akira no Suisatsu Vol.11 (light novel)

[faline-cat444]

The mailbox was never checked yesterday but it was filled to the point we're joking our mailman must be a Tetris champion in his spare time

[mangassc]

[frogkunlit]

Top 5 New English Light Novels of 2023

It’s that time of the year again! Looking back on this year’s English light novel debuts, there were a handful of titles that I was really looking forward to but which ultimately disappointed me (Agents of the Four Seasons, The Ephemeral Scenes of Setsuna’s Journey, and Days With My Stepsister, to name a few), but I was also blown away by some unexpected surprises, which I’ll talk about below.…

[engshoujosei]

Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture (Manga)

Volume 1 releases in English on August 22nd, 2023.

Licensed by Yen Press

Naoya Fukamachi is a university student whose ability to infallibly detect lies has left him friendless and isolated. When a paper of his piques the interest of his folklore studies professor Akira Takatsuki, a handsome and eccentric man, he soon finds himself dragged into Akira’s research. Now, as the assistant in charge of common sense, he must help his professor interpret an array of unexplainable phenomena…

Related Series

Junkyouju Takatsuki Akira no Suisatsu: Minzoku-gaku Kaku Katariki (Adapted From, novel, licensed)

Status in Country of Origin

5 Volumes (Ongoing)

Tags:

Adapted to JDrama

Based on a Novel

Folklore

Ghost Story/ies

Hearing Things Other Humans Can't

Investigation

Non-BL with Two Male Leads

Parent-Child Grow Distant

Part-Time Job

Post-Secondary Student/s

Professor/s

Scar/s

Special Ability/ies

University

Urban Legends

[ridley-was-a-cat]

398. Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture, Vol. 5 - licensed - The office mystery from last time has a surprising ending that shows Naoya isn't alone, the next case about a mermaid sighting resolves in a way none of the guys expected, and we learn more about Akira's past. Fun stuff.

[beneaththetangles]

How do you not fall in love? How do you be a good bad guy? How do you learn to be a grown-up witch? And what exactly is the professor’s conjecture? All these questions and more are explored in the selections for this week’s Reader’s Corner, which also includes the first volume of a psychedelic sci-fi and the latest on Secretary Kim!

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Apocalypse Bringer Mynoghra (Vol. 2) • Aria of the Beech Forest (Vol. 2) • Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki’s Conjecture (Vol. 5) • I Wanna Do Bad Things with You (Vol. 2) • Kiki’s Delivery Service Film Comic: All-in-One Edition • Ultra Heaven (Vol. 1) • The Villainess’s Guide to (Not) Falling in Love (Vol. 3) • What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim? (Vol. 6)

[xitty]

Here's my "trying to desperately find books that scratch the same itch as The Case Files of Jeweler Richard" collection. And I have to say, none of these can top it but two I really like. Three out of four are from Yen Press and one (Onmyoji) from Cross Infinite World. Jeweler Richard is from Seven Seas. So Yen Press is aggressively targeting the same crowd and look at me, it's working. All four have supernatural elements unlike Jeweler and so far I've read only the first books of these series. Noting the BL vibes too because I like handsome men together. ;)

****

Mikage Sawamura: Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture This is the the best of these four and closest to Jeweler Richard in feel and setting. It's about titular university professor who's a folklore expert and a student called Naoya who hears people's voices distorted when they lie because he stumbled across festival of the dead as a kid and things happened there. Takatsuki is eccentric and harbors a few secrets of his own. They solve cases relating to urban legends and cursed objects etc. There doesn't seem to be any BL vibes even though Naoya notes how handsome and charming Akira is. Enjoyed the book a lot and I like the characters and the urban legends!

Yoshiko Utamine: Onmyoji and Tengu Eyes I like this one a lot too! Misato is an onmyoji who takes a job in a small town of Tomoe, joining a government management unit who deals with abnormal crises. Ryouji is doing a freelance monk work and claims to be . Their paths cross, they end up living together and solving the mysteries together. And their family backgrounds play roles too. Inspiration from mythology, Shinto, Buddhism, Onmyodo etc. Not actual BL but it's very easy to ship them. Liked that the paranormal investigation was a government job, it's not unique setting of course but between these four books it's a different to the others.

Michiru Fushino: The Contract Between a Specter and a Servant A lot of promise here and only marred by unnecessary threats of sexual violence at certain points. Masamichi has failed his university exams, lost his job and then is hit by a car to top it all, about to die. A handsome specter called Shino appears and wants to eat Masamichi but he offers to fix him and eat him only later. Masamichi agrees and they began living together in Shino's antique shop. There are demons and curses and tsukumogami etc. This is BL! First book very slow on that though but it's BL, writer says so. This is actually rewrite of their earlier work.

Yoru Michio: Hell Is Dark with No Flowers Great setup but writing is the weakest of these. Seiji is 20-something NEET who gets lost in the city one day and finds a mansion. The owner, Shiroshi, invites him to tea and offers a place for him as his assistant. Shiroshi sends people who have sinned to Hell and Seiji sees people who have sinned as yokai. Shiroshi doesn't seem to need Seiji's skills though and Seiji feels more like a pet. The links to yokai and the mysteries are interesting but exploring characters' thoughts and reason is a bit lacking and pacing is jumpy. No BL vibes.

****

So, the first two I absolutely recommend, third with that one content warning attached and fourth not really. I already have more volumes from each except Hell because there's only that first one out. And I don't know yet if I will get the second one.

[justusrstone]

Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture v1 light novel review

[jessenigma]

My Favorite New Manga Reads of 2023

For the past few years on twitter, I've made threads of some of my favorite manga and light novel reads from the past year. This year, I decided I would move it over to two tumblr posts.

After the cut are some of my favorite titles that I picked up for the first time in 2023.

Talk to My Back, Yamada Murasaki

I like to pick up something a little more unusual at least once a year and so at the beginning of this year, I picked up this 1980s alt-manga title about the life of a Tokyo housewife played out in short vignettes. It's a frustrating read because of how real it feels and how much it feels like things haven't changed as much in the last 40 years as I'd like, but it's all the more fascinating for it. The essay at the end discussing Yamada Murasaki's work and placing it in context was a nice bonus too.

When a Cat Faces West, Yuki Urushibara

I love Yuki Urushibara's Mushishi (slow though I have been to actually finish it), so when Kodansha announced a license for Urushibara's much shorter series, I was there for it. It has a cool concept - there are areas of "flow" that will pop up out of nowhere and shift people and places out of time and space and one guy has tasked himself with helping people fix issues caused by it - but mostly it feels like Mushishi but set in the present day. I love a series that's just vibes all the way down.

Skip and Loafer, Misaki Takamatsu

I was absolutely smitten with the Skip and Loafer anime, so when it ended with what felt like a pretty definitive "we are not making a second season of this" final episode, I started the manga. A high school slice of life series lives by its characters and Mitsumi is the more adorable dork ever. The other characters are equally delightful, even when I don't necessarily like them, and I'm so eager to dive deeper into their lives.

Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture (light novel), Mikage Sawamura

This series feels a bit like what you'd get if you crossed The Case Files of Jeweler Richard and The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window: a college student with a supernatural ability to hear lies that alienates him from everyone meets a folklore professor with a mysterious past fascinated by mysteries, and together they investigate possibly-supernatural events. It's a bit silly, but the relationship between the leads is interesting and there's a lot of fun urban legends in the mix. There's also a manga adaptation that I haven't yet picked up, but maybe one day...

March Comes in Like a Lion, Chica Umino

I was curious about this one from the second Denpa announced the license just because of how much I'd heard about the series for years now, and it did not disappoint. I love a good story about a depressed and lonely teenage boy sublimating his feelings into an obsession with a uniquely Japanese pastime, especially when there's so many people around him wanting to help him stop being alone. Now I just wish that the release wasn't quite as slow as it has been, even if I know the many reasons why...though at least I still have the anime to rewatch while I wait.

Don't Call It Mystery, Yumi Tamura

After reading Basara and Wild Com, I was eager to get my hands on a newer series by Yumi Tamura, and the fact that it's a modern-day non-fantasy series made it all the more interesting. Totonou's incessant observations about the things going on around him are delightful, especially when they lead him straight into all kinds of dangers or even just leave everyone around him wishing he'd stop talking for about five seconds. I just want to pat him on the head and ask him to make me some curry.

After the Rain, Jun Mayuzuki

I got a card for the Japan Foundation's ebook library not too long ago, which has been great for picking up a lot of books that aren't available in my local library's collection, including this series. I had heard about it but was a bit hesitant because it's about a teenage girl who gets a crush on her much older boss...but hey, why not give it a try from the library? I'm glad I did because there was such a sweet relationship between them that ultimately helped them both out of the ruts they were in with their personal lives and dreams.

River's Edge, Kyoko Okazaki

I still can't decide if I actually enjoy Kyoko Okazaki's work or not, but I got a little closer to it with River's Edge. It's a harsh story about disaffected teenagers who find a dead body, but somehow it feels less depressing than the other works of hers I've read because they're teenagers and there's still the possibility that they can escape the lives that are dragging them down. I will say this - Okazaki's stories are never boring, whether I enjoy them or not.

Her, Tomoko Yamashita

I got a little overambitious this year and ordered the Italian release of a Tomoko Yamashita title I've been wanting to read for years. Can I read Italian? No. Did I think maybe I could figure it out kinda okay because I've studied French and Spanish? Yes. Did I end up reading everything through a translation app? Also yes. But this collection of interconnected stories about women and relationships was excellent despite the language barrier. I was thrilled to finally see the context for the kiss between a younger woman and an elderly woman that I so admired in Yamashita's 15th anniversary artbook, and its story was a touching exploration of what "normal" means. I would love to see this in English, but unfortunately I can't see it getting picked up.

Glitch, Shima Shinya

I was thrilled that Yen Press decided to pick up another title from Shima Shinya after Lost Lad London, and Glitch has been well worth my time. While it is a fantasy story about a town full of glitches in reality that I'm excited to see play out fully, what really caught my eye is the sheer amount of diversity in the characters - one of the leads is nonbinary, there are mixed race characters, there's a lesbian couple, etc. It's all part of the story but not in a didactic way, which I appreciate immensely. Shinya's art also makes me so happy, and I hope Yen continues to get more of their work.

Lilies and Voices Born Upon the Wind, Renmei

Speaking of diversity in characters, I enjoyed this series not only because it was a nice yuri with a motorcycle lesbian (always a bonus in my book, the motorcycle) but because it had some really thoughtful discussion of asexuality in multiple forms. I wish I could've gotten one of the printed copies that were available for purchase at one con, but alas.

Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen, Hiromi Sato & Kamome Shirahama

Did we really need a cooking series spinoff of Witch Hat Atelier? Probably not. Am I glad we got it in English anyway? Absolutely. This is basically an Olruggio/Qifrey slowburn domestic au fanfic and I adore it. And I love that they keep up the conceit about magical ingredients in each chapter's recipe, even though they are legit recipes you can actually make with the real ingredients recommended as substitutions. What Did You Eat Yesterday? but with witches, clearly an ideal combination.

Scribbles, Kaoru Mori

I am not actually a diehard fan of Kaoru Mori's work - I drifted away from A Bride's Story when I ran out of volumes at the library - but I do unabashedly adore her art. Scribbles is just perfect for me with its pages from her sketchbooks and her commentary about things like the ideal skirt tightness. I bought this in hardcover and all and will continue to get the other volumes in hardcover even though I almost always get Yen Press titles digitally because it's so much cheaper that way, that's how much I like it.

Innocent, Shin'ichi Sakamoto

I've had my eye on Shin'ichi Sakamoto's work for a while because I saw a bunch of panels from Innocent on here and fell in love with the art. What I did not expect was that the violently erotic story about a French executioner would actually get an English license. It's gorgeous and violent and weird and I am so here for it. Now, if I could just be sure that Dark Horse actually plans on releasing the whole thing...

Barbarities, Tsuta Suzuki

Much like with Innocent, I saw panels from Barbarities on here ages ago and wished I could read it without much hope, given the lack of other licenses for Tsuta Suzuki's bl since SuBLime's relicense of A Strange & Mystifying Story ages ago. But thankfully I am getting to read this nebulously historical drama with all of its social machinations and pretty men getting flustered by other flirtatious pretty men. And such nice clothes!

A Home Far Away, Teki Yatsuda

Kuma really gets some stellar licenses and A Home Far Away was especially good. Set in 1990s America, it reminded me of nothing so much as My Own Private Idaho crossed with Banana Fish and made me weep absolute buckets in the end. I don't think it's for everyone, but if you were ever an aficionado of depressing 90s queer cinema like I once was, this might be one for you.

À vos cotés [Tonari ni], Basso

I was shocked when the announcement for the French release of this title crossed my twitter timeline earlier this year - France has even less by Natsume Ono than the US does, but one of their publishers managed to get one of her actual bl titles published under her bl penname? So naturally, I had to get it. It's super sweet, about a young man who likes to take photos of horses at a racetrack who meets a much older man, and I swear reading it was just like reading her non-bl work only this time the two characters actually got to say their feelings out loud. This would be a perfect addition to several mainstream US publishers' bl lineup, and I would be the first in line to buy it if they did license it in English.

Dear, My God, Nemui Asada

More by Nemui Asada in English! I love Asada's work for its unique storylines and this one didn't disappoint, with a story about a priest having sex with a cult member to help save him and another story about a guy who ends up with a talking plant. It's a bit disappointing that it's only available on futekiya - when will we get some of these titles in print already?

Ikigami & Donor, Hiko Yamanaka

Hiko Yamanaka is another one whose work is always a bit outside the mold, and Ikigami & Donor is an interesting sci-fi bl about powerful "living gods" who have tremendous abilities but can't heal from injuries without blood, bodily fluids, or tissues from one specific donor. It's a fascinating concept and the way the relationship between one ikigami and his donor played out made for an interesting story. I hope to see more from Yamanaka one day.

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Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture Vol. 5 throws a wrench into the normal formula

Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture Vol. 5 throws a wrench into the normal formula #comics #manga #graphicnovel

University student Naoya Fukamachi has the ability to unerringly detect lies. He finds himself working for his eccentric associate professor of folklore studies, Akira Takatsuki, to investigate the supernatural. After closing the case on the eerie mystery of 4:44, the two head to the sea following reports of mermaid sightings. Then one summer evening, they find themselves tumbling into the…

[hatsumishinogu]

Junkyoju - Takatsuki Akira no Suisatsu

[faline-cat444]

Last portions of this month

[yuurei20]

Seiyuu Birthday: Idia's Uchiyama Kouki

Happy birthday to Idia’s voice actor Uchiyama Kouki!

Uchiyama has a lot going on in 2023, voicing characters in “Play it Cool, Guys” (w/ Deuce’s Kobayashi, Leona’s Umehara, Ace’s Yamashita), TRIGUN STAMPEDE, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War, BLUELOCK (with Ruggie’s Ichikawa, Riddle’s Hanae, Silver’s Shimazaki and Jade’s Komada), Buddy Daddies, THE MARGINAL SERVICE, The Seven Deadly Sins: Four Knights of the Apocalypse, being cast in the upcoming 2024 anime, “My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered,” and more.

He also voices “Mayonaka Danshi Meshi." In this episode he is joined by Crewel’s Ito and Deuce’s Kobayashi

Uchiyama and Crewel’s Ito overlap again in this promotional video for “Associate Professor Akira Takatsuki's Conjecture”

Uchiyama also hosts an internet radio show, “Uchiyama Kouki’s 1 COOL!," here:

Deuce’s Kobayashi also has a radio show, and in March of this year he welcomed Uchiyama as a guest.

The episode is available here:

More here:

[frogkunlit]

A Good Light Novel With a Bad Title

Light novels are infamous for their “clickbait” titles, but honestly, any general book lover can probably tell you about a title that was single-handedly responsible for reeling them in, for better or worse. The other day, I read a book called Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone for reasons I’m sure you can understand. It’s also hard to argue that the provocative title of Jennette McCurdy’s…